All rounder Glen Maxwell might have made a killing by being grabbed for $1 million by Mumbai Indians in the sixth auction of players for the forthcoming Indian Premier League tournament. Yet the falling attraction of the IPL 20 League, increasing financial pressure and the need to conserve cash for the big auction next year when contracts of iconic players get over has impelled the nine team owners not to pay the big bucks and go in for a scramble to get players into their teams.
The average money paid for acquisition of new players this Sunday in Chennai was only $321,000 for the 37 players which is a drop of nearly 27% over the average auction price of a player in the auction held in January 2012. Last year the average auction price for a player was around $440,000. Despite inflation, which should have brought average prices up the difference is even more stark when compared to what the average price paid for a players was in 2008- which at 4,90,000 is higher by 35% compared to what teams paid yesterday.
In 2011 when the IPL was at its peak with two new teams Pune Warriors and Kochi Tuskers coming in making the number of teams to ten as many as 127 players were sold but at an average price of a staggering $4,94,000.
At another level this year Maxwell is the only player who has hit the 1 million mark. Rewind in 2011 there were nine players who hit the over $1 million mark which even included Yuf Phatan for $2.1 million paid by Kolkata Knight Riders and in 2012 there were three over the magic mark which included Ravindra Jadeja for $2.4 million.
The prudence of the teams can be reflected in the fact that the nine teams did not use $24.59 million which they together still have in their kitty under the rules to buy new players which is nearly a fifth of the $112.5 million cap (each has cap of $12.5 million) that they have for spending to buy players. Teams like Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad together have spent only US $ 2.05 million of their total kitty to buy players this season.
Experts however say that most teams are conserving their energy for spending the big bucks next year when many of the iconic player contacts will be over and they will be up for grabs. Indranil Das Blah, COO at KWAN Entertainment and Marketing Solutions, agrees, “It was a low-key auction with very few star players on the paper. Moreover, most of the franchisee owners have settled and were bidding as per the needs of the team and not going after players for name. Last year there was correction and learning and they (team owners) have been cautio now about spending. But, wait for next year, when all the contracts will get over, including that of icon players. It will be much bigger auction.”
